Lic. Química

New technologies, why
bother?
Nanotechnology and synthetic
and synthetic
biology

What is it?
Nanotechnology
Ultimate miniaturisation

Synthetic biology
New organisms from scratchNanotechnology, what is it?
1.

2.

3.

Newly designed molecular ‘machines’,
chips, drug delivery systems etc
New materials, due to new
materials due to new
configurations, not occurring innature
Application of known substances in
very small particulate form

Nanoparticles
Size 1-100 nm in at least 1 dimension
Intended production
Chemical or physical engineering
Chemical orphysical engineering
Biosynthesis

Accidental production
Combustion processes (UF particles)
processes (UF particles)
Waste from designed nanomaterials

Nanodimensions
Water molecule 0.3 nmDNA-strand 2.5 nm
Ribosome 20
Ribosome 20-30 nm
nm
Pneumonia virus 80-120 nm
Visible light 400-700 nm
Cell nucleus > 5000 nm
5000

Issues
Socio-economic disruption
Human health
Ethicalconcerns
Ethical concerns
Ecological effects
Security
Privacy

Toxicology
‘Inert’ materials become reactive on
nanoscale
Toxicity depends on size, chemistry and
form
Mostly limited to insolublesubstances
limited to insoluble substances
Knowledge gap
No legislation
>300,000 essentially new materials

Synthetic Biology
Marriage between biotechnology and
engineering principles
iAssembly of biologic ‘machines’ from
elementary building blocks
From artisanal craft to mass industry
artisanal craft to mass industry
Interconnections between nano and
synthetic biology
syntheticbiology
Similar issues as in nano

Why bother?
Products spread like wildfire
Huge government investments, facilitating
decision-making, lots of economic
opportunities
Fair warning mostly fromconcerned scientists
Fair warning mostly from concerned scientists
Little or no NGO-involvement so far
How can citizens participate if they have no
How can citizens participate if they have no...